Political and religious officials are typically way ahead of the rest of us on the stupidity curve. The question is, does this curve keep climbing indefinitely or does it flatten out at some distant point?

'Luthon64

Don't know about the curve but what boggles the mind here is the spin. Normal people slink off to a corner when caught out but not these guys. Maybe that is the definition of a politician, the ability to turn a negative into something that somehow sound positive.That would make all second hand car salesmen potential politicians.

... does this curve keep climbing indefinitely or does it flatten out at some distant point?

I recon it largely depends on which Stupidity Index (SI) you care to use. For instance, if you choose for your SI unit, say, the Déjà-cockup (Dc - the number of times dumb incidents are repeated by politicians and clergy as judged by the constituency) then the curve may never quite flatten out. But if you choose the OS (Oops, sorry!) index, then you'll find the curve pretty flat already.

… if you choose for your SI unit, say, the Déjà-cockup (Dc - the number of times dumb incidents are repeated by politicians and clergy as judged by the constituency) then the curve may never quite flatten out. But if you choose the OS (Oops, sorry!) index, then you'll find the curve pretty flat already.

Hmm, the Dc and OS indices are inversely related to one another: As the one goes up, the other decreases, and so the OS index would asymptotically approach a fixed value (I suspect it’s zero) as the quantity of Dc increases, pretty much irrespective of how the amount of Dc increases.

Tweefo reminded me that directly related to the Dc measure is the much less familiar but more reliable Dorbke scale. (“Dorbke” = “Denial of responsibility by kak excuse.”) My original question really was whether there is an upper limit to how many Dc and/or Dorbkes government and religious officials are individually and collectively capable of amassing. I don’t think the answer can depend on the units of measure, but if it does, that would be equally mindboggling.